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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28339008">After The After Party</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/East02End/pseuds/East02End'>East02End</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Ballum, EastEnders</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>M/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 19:20:04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,067</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28339008</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/East02End/pseuds/East02End</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>I don’t know what this really, just a few ideas going on in my head after last nights episode. </p><p>I’m supposed to be working on my new fic and request but got waylaid again. 🙄</p><p>Anyways, it’s really terrible but I ended up posting it anyway. :))</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Callum Highway / Ben Mitchell</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>29</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>After The After Party</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Callum smiled at Lexi with her presents, looking up at the front door slam. </p><p>“Ben?! What the hell, Lexi’s been asking where you’ve gone and quite frankly I didn’t know what to tell her cos I don’t know myself?!”</p><p>“Just leave it, Callum...” Ben sighed. </p><p>“First Phil dashes off, then you disappear somewhere and won’t tell me, you never tell me anything?!”</p><p>“Yes I do, Callum?!” Ben cried. </p><p>“This is like last year, you say you don’t tell me stuff to ‘protect me’ but it doesn’t help.”</p><p>“This is nothing like last year?!” Ben hissed. </p><p>“What is wrong with you??” Callum stepped forward, taking Ben’s face in his hands, getting him to look at him. “Why can’t you just talk to me instead of shutting me out?” </p><p>“I’m not...” Ben whispered. </p><p>“Talk to me, Ben?”</p><p>“I can’t. You’ll only hate me more...”</p><p>“I don’t hate you anyway?? You think I’d be here if I hated you? I’m happy with you and Lex. And I want you to be happy too, but you aren’t?”</p><p>“You’ll think I’m terrible?” </p><p>“Can’t be worse than me...”</p><p>“What?” Ben frowned, searching Callum’s face.</p><p>“Nothing that don’t matter now.” Callum said quickly. “I need you to tell me what’s wrong?”</p><p>“I left him, Cal...” Ben whispered. </p><p>“Left who??”</p><p>Ben hesitated, before looking back at Callum.</p><p>“I left Ian instead of trying to help...”</p><p>Callum took his hands away from Ben, searching his eyes. </p><p>“The night Ian was attacked?? You swore to me, you were no where near?!”</p><p>“I know! But I swear I didn’t touch him! I didn’t try and kill him, Cal?!”</p><p>“I know you didn’t, yeah?” Callum cupped Ben’s face again, trying to get him to calm down. </p><p>“He was just... lying there and I was so angry with him cos he’d shopped us and I just left him...”</p><p>“Why didn’t you call an ambulance?” </p><p>“Cos I was just so angry with him and I didn’t know if he was already dead... I’m sorry... I know you probably-“</p><p>“Just stop saying that, okay? I don’t hate you. I don’t care what you’ve done in the past and I promise you, I’ll never hate you if you ever did anything in the future. I don’t hate you?”</p><p>Ben nodded slowly, holding his hands over Callum’s. </p><p>“Why do you even bother with me, I’m a mess most of the time?”</p><p>“Cos I love you, Ben. And I know you already hate yourself all the time for some strange reason, I don’t need to add to that.”</p><p>“I don’t know what I did to deserve  to you?” Ben smiled. </p><p>“What happened today?” Callum whispered. </p><p>“I just went there to get him to stop telling the police it was me? I don’t know who tried to kill him, but it wasn’t me? They’d already gone when I got there and I just left him, Callum...”</p><p>“I don’t get why he’s adamant it was you?”</p><p>“He said he saw me. Guess I got there after the after party? I mean you were there this morning, when the police arrested Peter. Someone else has already tried to get to Ian, I just arrived after?”</p><p>“You need to keep your head down?” Callum nodded. “The police are still hanging around you and if you give them anymore ammunition, they’ll be soon round here.” </p><p>“I’m trying to, but I just wanted Ian to stop thinking it was me? Then Dad came round and I left it instead. I swear on Lexi’s life I didn’t touch him, I just told him to watch his mouth cos he was scaring Lex about the police taking me away.”</p><p>“No ones gonna take you away. I’m not gonna let that happen.”</p><p>“You can’t promise that. Mum’s already given me an alibi but I don’t know if that’s enough and I told Dad I just left him?”</p><p>Callum frowned at Ben, looking up at Callum quickly.</p><p>“Dad...” Ben whispered.</p><p>“What?!”</p><p>“Earlier, he came in round the back...”</p><p>“Yeah??”</p><p>Ben looked up slowly at Callum, something clicking. </p><p>“It was Dad...”</p><p>“What would Phil wanna kill Ian for??”</p><p>“Why else would he go round?!”</p><p>“To what?!”</p><p>“Come on Callum, to finish the job?!”</p><p>“Your definitely sure??”</p><p>Ben nodded slowly, dropping Callum’s hands. </p><p>“Why would he suddenly want Ian dead??” Callum frowned. </p><p>“I don’t know...” </p><p>“Don’t look like that, Ben?” Callum tried, watching the look on Ben’s face. “I’m not letting you do anything, you need to keep yourself out of it??”</p><p>“Ian clearly doesn’t know it was Dad, if he’s gunning for me? So, Ian has said it done something to him. Dad wouldn’t just do that for no good reason?”</p><p>“Ben, listen to me, stay out of it?!”</p><p>“I can’t, Callum... This is Dad were talking about.”</p><p>“He can look after himself. You said yourself yesterday, you can’t go back to prison?!”</p><p>“I’m not going to, but I need to find Dad? Look after Lex again.”</p><p>“Ben!!” Callum cried, watching him swing the front door open. “For fucks sake, would you just listen to me for once?” Callum grabbed Ben’s hand, turning him back around. </p><p>“I need to talk to him...”</p><p>“Your daughter is waiting for you in there and I need you here too? Please, Ben, just leave it. At least for today, it’s Christmas Day...”</p><p>Ben sighed, looking at Callum. “Okay...”</p><p>“Yeah?” Callum nodded, shutting the front door anyway. </p><p>“I can’t leave it forever...”</p><p>“I know you’ll probably do whatever after anyway.” Callum smiled. “But right now, I want to spend the rest of the day with my boyfriend and his daughter. I don’t care about anything else right now.”</p><p>“Oh yeah, who’s that then? Who is this infamous man?”</p><p>“A very stubborn one at that?” Callum grinned. “Come on, Lexi wants you too. I want the rest of the day to go without anything else getting in the way. Then we can look forward to doing something together for the New Year.”</p><p>Ben nodded, following Callum back to Lexi. Everything was going through his head at hundred miles an hour. What had Phil got against Ian, what Callum had meant him doing something worse. Ian adamant it was him. </p><p>“I don’t think I could cope if anything worse happens next year?” Callum chuckled to himself. “All I want is a perfectly normal year.”</p><p>Ben didn’t know any of the answers right now, but was determined to find out one way or another.</p>
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